The Missing Link
by Eliza02
Summary: Chris finds himself having to deal with a crush but other problems lead on to complicate his efforts.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N – I always think WR was better with the __**old**__ cast. Chris was one of the main reasons I stuck at watching it! There __**was **__something about him that no one else saw and I'm glad it came through Series 7, as he was so lovely!_

_xXx_

Perfection; there was no other way of describing him. Even if _he _didn't quite believe that there were more than a few women who would've happily corrected him.

His deeply set blue eyes let off a subdued shimmer, yet within there was a mild playfulness. She only became aware of it whenever he was aware of her intent gaze on him – and whenever their gazes interlocked his cheeks would turn pink and he would dart his eyes to somewhere else in the hope of breaking the eye contact.

And he knew full well that she _enjoyed _flustering him in such ways; during those sorts of moments the corners of her mouth would quirk into an almost impish smirk and she would focus on some other delectable part of him.

Somewhere else like his _body_ – he wasn't considered as someone who had _loads _of muscle, but she felt herself go weak all over at seeing the slightest firm ripple of flesh through his shirts.

"Chris…"

His bright blue orbs flashed back into reality from his few minutes long reverie. He didn't make a mental note of just how long he'd been in his own thoughts but a wave of embarrassment crashed over him at the realisation of zoning out at such an inappropriate time. "Sorry."

Karen smiled softly. "Wake up." She teased.

He sat back in his chair in her room, lowering his head at the feel of his cheeks turning red. "I-I don't know what came over me. I-I'm so sorry." It wasn't very often that he lost concentration, but for some reason right there and then, he did.

"As long as you don't forget about the end of term ball next week."

He inwardly jolted at her prompt. He'd _completely_ forgotten about the bash. Not that he was intending on _going _to it, as he had no one to go with. It was a sad thought in itself, but certain people were pushing for him to go when he didn't feel like it. He inwardly thought maybe he was getting to be at _that age_where he was finding it hard to enjoy the finer points in life, but that was daft.

"You _are _coming to that," she got up from her chair, setting about putting her coat on as it was the end of the day, "aren't you?"

Chris was going to reply, when he looked through the doorway to her room and realised that Janeece had been peering round the corner at him. She'd gotten up from behind her desk to get ready to go also, and she wrapped her warm fur-lined coat around herself.

"Janeece is going next week."

"G-going _where_, Miss?"

"The end of term ball."

"Oh." She placed the strap of her bag around her shoulder. "I don't think I'll be able to go." She didn't seem caught out by Karen's assumption, which led both of them to assume that there _was_ a genuine reason.

"That's a pity," she frowned, "why not? If you're having trouble finding a babysitter…"

"No, it's not that, Miss," she cast her gaze away, feeling awkward at giving them the real reason, "I-I have to go."  
And with that, she sharply turned away from them and hurriedly walked out.

Chris lowered his gaze down at the floor, not really knowing what to think at that stage – and why the heck did he catch her looking over at him? That was what it appeared to seem like anyway.  
That aside, he couldn't understand why _Janeece_, of all people, wasn't going. After all, she was at the age where parties and going on nights out _mattered_.

Janeece picked up Cheryl from her mum's, and then continued the rest of the way back to her place. She was lucky to have one quiet, happily sleeping baby she was pushing along, as it gave her an opportunity to go through her feelings about the young male.

She knew enough to know that she _liked_ him, but from what she could tell from their past moments together he didn't show any signs that he felt the same way about her.  
Maybe he inwardly felt she was too young for him or…that he wasn't her type, and he could well have had a point if that were the case.

Cheryl bawling in her sleep brought her out of her thoughts, and she felt relieved that they were metres away from her flat's door.  
She got her out of her pram and lifted her into her arms so as to ease her distressed cries. She'd been crying on and off for some time, and she knew she had to think about getting her to the doctors to find out why.

The next morning, Janeece was, in a way, unpleasantly surprised to find that Karen wasn't in and Chris had taken her place behind her desk. "Is she not in today?"

"She took the day off for emergency." He explained loosely, deciding not to look straight up at her in case he'd caught her staring at him like the previous night.

"What for?"

"I don't know," he shrugged, "she doesn't tell me everything."

She swallowed hard at his seemingly stressed manner, and thought it best to go back on what she wanted to see him for.

He became aware of the fact she hadn't left the room and he slowly looked up at her. "Is there something you wanna talk about?"

She nervously tugged at the necklace she had around her neck. "I-I don't think I should say," she stated, "if we're short-staffed."

"We're not exactly short-staffed," he smirked a little, "not if I'm taking over for one day."

"It's just that Cheryl needs to go to the doctors tonight and my mum's too busy to take her." She watched his eyes widen a little. "I'm so sorry. I didn't even clear it with _you_first."

"Don't worry about that. You don't have to make any time up for when you come back." Chris reassured her. "She is ok, though, right?"

Janeece sighed a little in relief at his lenience towards her situation. "I guess so," she supposed, "I've been getting problems with feeding her."

"She's not teething, is she?"

She inwardly laughed at his postulation if not for the fact he wanted to make more conversation with her. She didn't have him down as someone who knew a lot about babies and what sorts of conditions they went through, but she found it cute.  
"I don't know." She admitted. "She won't even go as far as to let me even see for myself."

"Well, at least you know where she's having problems." He made to go back to what he was doing, which was sorting out a few forms. What for, she didn't know.

"Were you planning on going to the party that's coming up, Sir?"

"_Me_?" He sounded surprised that she wanted to talk to him some more. "I would if I had someone to go with."

She giggled a little.

"What's so funny?"

"Just that," she couldn't stop the corners of her mouth from curving upwards into a smirk, "you're making it sound like you're planning on being a _hermit_."

"So what's _your _excuse?"

That didn't catch Janeece out at all, and Chris was rather hoping that he'd done so. "I don't have a reason not to go. I just didn't want to."

He said nothing, and went back to his work.

"That wasn't the answer you wanted to hear, was it?"

"It isn't up to me whether you wanted to go or not." He admitted. "It's your decision, no one else's."

She smiled a little to herself. "You don't sound like the others."

"You know, if you wanted," he had a passing thought, "if you had to take her to the doctors after work, I can drive you. At least that way it'd save you a trip there and back to your place."

"Really?" Her eyes lit up excitedly. "You'd do that for me?"

"Sure."


	2. Chapter 2

Chris waited outside the doctors' surgery in his car after dropping Janeece off and carrying one loudly bawling baby inside the building.  
He didn't know how he managed to concentrate on her navigating him to the place through the cries, but he was sure he'd gotten deaf from the noise.

It didn't take long for both mother and daughter to emerge from the surgery and get back into the car.  
"I wish I'd have come to you first." She admitted, outwardly and inwardly thankful to have Cheryl mildly quieter for once. She still appeared to be in pain, but she didn't seem as aggrieved as before.

"Why, what did they say?"

"She _is _teething." Janeece explained. "A little sooner than expected, but at least we know it's something that's meant to happen."

"Did they prescribe her anything?" Chris made to pull out of the bay they were parked up in. He may have known that babies developed teething and that at times it could get quite painful, but he didn't know if it was something that was treated or she had to ride it out.

"Doctors recommended some teething gels." She replied. "But if I can't get into her mouth without her _biting _me, then what's the point in getting one?"

"I see your point." He pulled out of the surgery's car park so he could take her to her place. He had her down as someone who was careless – who was frivolous with her money and wasn't financially responsible. But she'd seemingly proved him wrong.

"I was thinking," she looked to him once he'd pulled up outside her flat and had gotten out of the car, "do you wanna come in for a bit?"

He swallowed hard and unnoticeably shifted in his seat. "I-I could, but what for?"

"I think I might need some help in putting Cheryl to bed."

Janeece let them in to her flat, and Cheryl immediately launched into a fit of crying and bawling.

Chris frowned at seeing how drained the young girl had become in just a few seconds, and he knew it was from sheer stress. "Let me take her."

Her eyes grew wide. "A-are you sure?"

"Not really, but I think you want someone to take her off your hands." He inched closer to her, signalling for her to give her to him.

She hesitantly handed her to him, and to her surprise she quietened down a little. The bawling toned down into snivels, and she became more relaxed in his embrace.  
"That's incredible," she noted shakily, "I've never seen her do that before."

"Nothing to it." He shrugged. "Maybe she got tired of making all that noise."

"I think she likes you." She smirked, watching the little one nuzzle her head into his chest. "We should get her to bed."

"Wouldn't she have trouble sleeping though?" He assumed. "I mean, I'd hate for her to wake you up in the middle of the night if she's teething."

Janeece nodded slowly. "I don't know what to give her though…and I don't feel like going out to get her a teething gel as it's getting late."

"You might not have to go out." Chris stated. "She's in as much pain as she is 'cause her mouth hurts. And the areas where she's teething are probably red and hot, so she's going to want something cool. Have you got anything like ice cubes?"

"Yeah, lots." She replied. "Why?"

"Fill her bottle with those and water – or milk if you wanna get her to sleep quicker."

"I swear you must've been a doctor in a past life." She breathed, as she set about filling Cheryl's bottle with milk and dropped a few ice cubes into it.

"It's just a thought," he shrugged, "it could go badly wrong for all we know."

She gave him the bottle and he slipped the nozzle end into her mouth. She immediately latched onto it and she happily suckled on the cool fluids as the bottle was tipped towards her.

"She's enjoying that." She smiled softly, disposing of her coat by folding it up on her sofa. "I should be taking notes."

"It'll relieve the pain for a while," he explained, "and milk's good at sending anyone – especially poorly, tired babies – to sleep."

They both looked to see that the little one's eyelids were very close to closing, and that was their cue to take her to bed.

Janeece led Chris to Cheryl's room, where he carefully set her down in her cot. He drew the warm blankets over her small frame, and she flipped onto her back to get more comfortable. "I can't remember the last time she slept right through."

"Well, hopefully, tonight she will." He teased an index finger down the front of her body, from her chest to her navel. "And it'll give you a break from having to get up and see to her."

She shook her head in disbelief. "I don't think I can count the number of times I've had to get up from her crying, and even then she didn't settle and I'd have to stay up for the rest of the night."

He cast his gaze away modestly.

"Thanks to you I might not have to do that."

"I guess I should be going home myself." He assumed, getting his car keys out from his jacket pocket. "I don't wanna keep you up for any longer than I should be."

She smiled as she made to see him off. "Thanks for your help with her – and for taking us to the doctors."

"Oh, that's ok." His eyes shimmered coyly. "I'm just happy that it wasn't anything bad and you can relax now."

"You can say that again."

"So I'll see you tomorrow at work then?"

She nodded, smiling softly. "See you tomorrow."

Janeece made to go to bed, ensuring everything was turned off. She passed Cheryl's room, noticing that her daughter had remained in the same position as Chris had set her down in, still deeply asleep.

She went over to the crib, peering down at her as her small body rose and fell from each breath she took. Never before had she had so little trouble in getting her to sleep – the number of times she'd asked her mum to come by to settle her down to the single occasion that someone completely unknown to the little one pacified her with no problems astounded her.

She wished she knew what it was he did but she might not ever know. There was something clearly _paternal _about him and it was then she thought that maybe she'd sensed it.

****

The next morning, Janeece made to dress Cheryl so as to take her with her. She lifted her up out of the crib and set about slipping a cute summery dress on her as it was turning into such a sunny day, which wasn't a common occurrence at that time of year.

She carted her to work, noticing the sun's warm rays seep through the clouds and shimmer onto her shoulders and back. She'd decided to go for a more summery look herself, outwardly hoping it'd remain sunny all day.

It'd been so long since Cheryl had slept through a whole night – too far back for her to remember. She could tell she'd slept well as she wasn't bawling, squirming about in the pram or looked otherwise unhappy.

Coming into work, she wheeled her into the staff room, surprised to realise that Chris was already in. She swallowed hard at seeing his slender yet well-proportioned frame by one of the counters.  
"M-morning, Sir." She immediately wanted to clam up due to her sudden shyness.

He swiftly cast his gaze to her, a small if barely noticeable pinkness flushing at his cheeks at noticing she'd come in. "How is she?"

She was slightly thrown at him wanting to catch up with her about the previous night. "No problems." She darted her eyes away from his, clearly thankful for his help. "I might have to call for your services some other time."

"I'm flattered you should say that."

She peered down at her, noticing that she was happily drinking from her bottle that she'd filled with chilled milk. "I took your advice about the milk and ice cubes."

"Well," he supposed, "looks like you won't have to go back to the doctors in that case. But it made sense to me that was the best thing for her."

"In a way, I wish _I'd_ thought of that." She admitted. "After all, I _am_her mother."

"Just 'cause you didn't think about that and I did doesn't make you a bad mother, you know." He loosely stated. "If anything it was just a passing thought on my part."

Janeece felt her insides melt at what he said. It was a subtle form of a compliment and her shyness grew at him approaching them. She swallowed hard at what he was going to do – was he going to try something as spontaneous as _kiss_ her? She _wanted_ him to but she knew it wasn't going to happen just like that – not when it was an action coming from _him_.

"May I?" Chris asked, his question implying that he wanted to hold her. It was a typical thing for someone of his status to her to ask for, but it was something she didn't expect him to want to do.

She nodded dazedly, freeing Cheryl from the pram so he could lift her out.  
She froze in her spot at hearing no sound of protest from her. There was obviously something about his presence she found reassuring and she curled herself up in his embrace as he held her.

"Is she not usually this well-behaved?" He noticed her bemused appearance.

She shook her head. "Sh-she'd usually kick up more of a fuss by now…" She nervously slid her tongue along her bottom lip.

She surveyed him as he held her little one in what she'd felt was quite a paternal embrace. It was something she was sure he'd done before, as he seemed so relaxed about it all.

He kept his gaze on her big hazel eyes, taken aback at how clear and bright they were. There was no way he would've been able to tell she had any problems teething or sleeping.  
He felt her get a little bit more heavy and it was clear to him that she wanted to go back to sleep.  
"I think she's getting sleepy." He set her back down in her pram.

Janeece assumed his shyness had come back again and that putting her back and saying she wanted to sleep was his way of hiding it, but peering down at the little one made her realise that he wasn't getting out of anything.  
"Any sign of Mrs Fisher?" She decided to move the subject onto more work issues.

"Not yet," Chris watched Cheryl try to curl up more under her blankets, "but I doubt she'll be back today, it being a Thursday."

"I wish I knew what was wrong with her."

"You're not the _only_ one who feels that way." He replied. "But if she's been off for most of the week, she's less likely to feel like coming back for two days. I know _I _would if I were off sick for most of the week."

"And with next week as well…"

He frowned. "What about next week?"

"The ball."

He swallowed hard. He'd completely forgotten about that. "I guess I might have to think about scrapping that."

She noticed he came over more weighed down in a mixture of disillusionment and worry and she didn't like what she saw. "I wouldn't let it worry you so much, Sir…"

"I'd better get to work." And no sooner had he said that, he was gone.


	3. Chapter 3

After she dropped Cheryl off, Janeece came to her desk and noticed that the door to the room that Chris had been occupying since Karen was away was closed. Possibly locked, as well, if he were as stressed out as he appeared and sounded.

She thought back to when he came round and helped her with her little one, and she knew that the only right thing she could think of was to return the favour.  
She lightly knocked on the door, hearing no response from him. She hoped he didn't go to _too _much of an extreme, although she knew he'd never think about losing it completely. "Sir?"

"Janeece, unless it's important, I haven't got time for it." He eventually protested, his voice clearly indicating to her that he wasn't overly interested.

"It _is_," she replied, "it's _very _important."

Silence ensued for a few seconds before the door was heard to unlock and then open slightly.  
Two slightly dimmed blue eyes looked to her. "What is it?"

"I would need to come in so I can tell you."

His gaze darted to the floor and then back to her in a cautious way.  
"O-ok," he supposed, "provided that you don't keep me for too long, 'cause I need to cancel everything about what's going on next week."

"You might not have to."

He closed the door, frowning at her as he did so. He wasn't in the right frame of mind for games and his patience had already worn quite thin. "Sorry if I have to point out the obvious, but we're missing a Head. This is a two-person job."

"I can _help _you." Janeece told him reassuringly.

Chris went back over to the desk, which was blanketed with papers.  
It was the first time she'd known it to be messy since he was in charge and it was then that she'd realised just how stressed he was.  
"_Help _me," he reiterated in a hollow voice, "I don't see how you can…"

"I'm not a secretary for nothing." She smiled softly. "I haven't got a lot of work on, so why don't you leave the paperwork to me?"

"I-I guess so," his posture came over a little more tense, "it isn't that I don't _trust _you, but I do want you to be sure of what you'd be doing."

Without thinking, she reached out and took his hands with hers, caressing them encouragingly. "Don't worry. Leave that to me, ok?"

The touch was something Chris should've found somewhat forward, but he sensed the stress melt away from Janeece's comforting strokes.

Janeece set about getting everything sorted for the following week, realising that it wasn't as difficult to do as she expected. She thought back to when she took hold of his hands and stroked him, and she wasn't trying to come onto him in any shape or form. She just wanted him to feel better.

Of course, she wanted to do so much _more_ to the young male than just touch him like that. Hot flashes of pleasure seared through her at the thought of _kissing_ him…_undressing_ him…and possibly doing more _naughtier _things with him.

_Concentrate_, her mind told her, pushing the sexily naughty thoughts to one side, _he might not want you to do anything with him if you can't pull this off_.

She went back to what she was writing, mentally sulking at the voice of reason within her head and knowing that there was no point in arguing with it.

Chris had gone past the stage of worry and become more uninterested. It wasn't as though he didn't _care_ but he'd made himself convinced that everything was going to flop.  
He did feel the massive weight that was on him was no longer there, but he was ready to blame himself for allowing Janeece to get involved with it all if it were to go horribly wrong.

The door opened and she came into the room with an air of energy about her.

"Someone's happy." He remarked, wishing he could feel the same.

"You should feel the same now," she smiled brightly, "'cause we're back on."

"_Really_?" His bright blue orbs widened in shock. "You mean…everything is sorted?"

She nodded slowly. "As good as."

Next Friday soon came round and Janeece was getting ready at her place, as she'd left work earlier. It was a gesture on Chris's part to thank her for her help in managing to sort the party out.

She felt that she could do anything for him and she couldn't wait to meet up with him, as she'd managed to convince him to come out – if not for the fact that he offered to give her a lift to and from the school that night.

She came to the decision that she was to impress him, and she set about sliding a sparkly silver strapless dress on. It showed off her curvaceous form perfectly, with its taffeta trim coming to just below the midway parts of her thighs. She didn't cake on a lot of foundation, instead preferring to apply a subtle eye shadow and eyeliner to her eyes to give her a more awake appearance.

She noticed a car pulling into her road with its lights flooding the path in front of it and stopping outside her place.  
Excitement seized at her, prompting her to almost run out of her room, grabbing her clutch as she did so, hurriedly tell her mum to look after her little one and try to gain some form of composure as she made to get into the car.

"Well," Chris's bright blue orbs fixed onto hers as she got into the front passenger seat, "we _do _look classy tonight, don't we?"

Janeece shrank into the seat in sheer nervousness, as she took in his appearance.

"Although that doesn't mean to say that you never _do_." He added, smoothly pulling away from the kerb.

She didn't know what to say to _his_ appearance, as he was wearing a black suit with a white shirt and black tie – she found him _cute _in monochrome colours and it made her want to reach over, grab him by his tie and press her lips to his. But she knew it was something he wouldn't have appreciated at that particular moment. Firstly, he was driving and secondly it wasn't the right time or place.

"Nervous?"

"Me? No." She lied. "Why would I be nervous?"

"Well, you'd be seeing your hard work for the first time." He admitted. "And you _did _work hard to pull it all off, believe me."

They got to the building's car park, where he pulled up into his space.  
They got inside through the main entrance, and Janeece felt her cheeks redden at noticing where her efforts had gotten her.

"So?" Chris looked to her, taking mild amusement in seeing her amazed expression. She didn't know what had hit her and he found it a little funny to see that for once she was completely dumbstruck.

"I-it's nice," she swallowed hard, "really nice."

He smirked playfully to himself as they got into the assembly hall.  
"Want a drink?" He offered.

"S-sure." She made to get some money out of her clutch, only for him to place a hand on hers.

"You don't have to do anything," he spoke to her smoothly, "let me take care of that."

She felt a sharp, icy shock shoot down her spine at his behaviour towards her. The way he was acting around her was not the same as when he was with her during work time.

"As long as you tell me what you want."

"W-water," she shakily replied, "water's fine."

"Is that all?" He teased. "You can be more adventurous than that, you know."

"O-ok…" She thought hard. "I'll have a spritzer."

"That's more like it." He quickly went off, leaving her on her own to survey her handiwork.

She had done most of it. She couldn't believe that. Her.

"Nice dress," Eleanor's voice came from behind her.

Janeece shyly twirled a strand of shiny brown hair around her index finger. "Thanks." She took in what she was wearing, finding that she was in a long satin green dress, which complemented her dark skin.

Her gaze moved from the taffeta trim at the bottom of her dress back to her eyes. "Is that the _longest _one you've ever worn?"

Her comment prompted a stab to hit her in her chest.  
As soon as the older woman had disappeared, Chris had come back.

"Hope you like it." He gave her a flute glass that was filled with a light golden sparkly fluid. "I didn't want it to be so strong you'd end up on the floor."

She tried to smile as she took it from him and she took a small mouthful of it.

"Is that ok?"

She nodded. "It's fine." She couldn't look straight at him. "Thanks, Sir."

"Enough formalities." He came closer to her, trying to get her to look into his eyes. "We're not working, are we?"

"I guess not." So many thoughts and feelings were going through her mind.  
It wasn't that she didn't want to interact with her temporary boss but she would've found it easier to do so if she didn't feel for him in such a strange way.

"I don't know why but letting you have some time off for all this doesn't feel like it's enough." He vaguely said to no one in particular.

She swallowed hard, assuming it was something she really didn't want to hear from him. "I don't give to receive. I-I was just happy to do that for you."

"If there was anything else you wanted…" Chris cast his gaze away shyly, allowing the blues from his orbs to shimmer seductively in the darkness.

Janeece felt her heart skip a beat at the various tints of blue that caught her eyes. The sight was just so sexy and she knew full well that there was something else she wanted, and it was something only _he _could give her.

Wordlessly, she slid closer to him and planted her lips on top of his.  
There didn't come any sign of resistance from him and she could only assume that he liked it just as much as _she _did.

She felt her breath get taken away at the fact that their lips had interlocked, pressing together. She was kissing him and he wasn't backing away, but it felt so good and his lips were soft and warm.

With her eyes still closed, she moved a hand to the back of his head, caressing the dark, shiny strands as she pulled her body against his. She playfully brushed her hips against his as if to want more from him.

After a few seconds of unwelcome contact, he hastily withdrew from her.  
A stunned expression had formed on his face.  
"This can't happen."

"What?" She frowned. "You don't want this?"

"I-I mean I know you've only had one drink and that was a spritzer."

"It isn't the drink doing this to me," she admitted slowly, "I _meant _to do that. I wanted to kiss you."

Chris swallowed hard at her words, realising that she did in fact look deadly serious at him.

"I want you." She went on more firmly, placing her other hand on the firm muscle of his bicep through his jacket. "Y-you don't know how you're making me feel."

"But _I_ don't want _you_," he replied in the shyest of ways, "and I'm sorry if I have to say it like that, but I don't and I probably won't _ever_."

"Then why don't you?" She felt a wave of hurt crash over her. "If I like you then you should like me back."

"In an ideal world, sure," he placed a hand on her shoulder, "but I like you as a friend and nothing else. And if I wanted to be harshly honest with you, Janeece, I don't think you're my type."

She nodded slowly. She couldn't believe her feelings for him were, in effect, being rejected.  
It became clear to both of them that she'd misconstrued his acts of friendship as him being more romantically interested in her.  
"I think I should go home."

"Then let me take you back." He offered. "I said I would run you back as well as get you here."

"No," she shook her head, "I can't do that."  
Although the last thing she would've wanted was to _hurt _him, she couldn't deal with the prospect of them being together and alone in his car, when she felt as low and hard done-by as she did from him rejecting her feelings.

"You don't want a lift back?" He pulled away a little, inwardly hurt at her turning down his offer of a lift.

"Not really." Janeece couldn't even summon up enough guts to look straight into his eyes, afraid of seeing what he was sensing.  
She couldn't help but feel guilty for forcing herself on him, kissing him and making him have to admit he did not feel the same way about her.

"I don't know what it is you want me to say." Chris stated after some time. "I don't even know if what you want me to say is going to make what just happened any better. We're just friends, but if you feel more than just that, then maybe we shouldn't even _be _friends."

"Why are you _saying _things like that?" She asked him shakily, trying very hard not to break down in front of him.

"'Cause if you feel something I don't, the prospect of us being together isn't going to happen and you'll only get more hurt if I don't feel anything beyond friendship."

She hastily wiped a tear away in the vain hope he didn't see, feeling a huge wave of guilt at realising that he _did, _yet had a hard time saying so in such a sympathetic enough way.

"I know what I'm saying isn't what you want me to say, but…" He came closer to her, not wanting to see her so upset, but he pulled away again when she rebuffed his attempts at comforting her.

"Stay away from me," she warned him loosely, "leave me alone."  
She wiped another tear away from her eye and blindly left the school to go back home.


End file.
